John Chrysostom, On the Harlot

De meretrice

A homily of the same Saint John Chrysostom on the Pharisee and on the harlot.

At all times repentance is good and salvific for those who use it, but especially in these days of the fast it becomes beneficial to all people, who run to its embrace. For now our souls, casting off excess of flesh, as a heavy burden, easily fly up to the creator and master God; and they fervently accuse their own transgressions, and ask for pardon for their offenses from the philanthropic judge. It is therefore opportune for us to bring into our midst, as a teacher of repentance, that harlot who embraced the undefiled feet of the master Christ, who erased with the streams of her tears the record of her most wicked life, whom the Lord, having had mercy, wiped clean and, having had compassion, washed away. Let us then run back to the Gospel story, so that we may both behold the philanthropy of Christ, and marvel at the woman's persistence, and learn from her how we too, sinners, ought to run to God the redeemer and receive from him the forgiveness of our transgressions. "One of the Pharisees asked the Lord to eat with him; and entering into the house of the Pharisee, he reclined." Do you see the condescension of God? Do you see the mystery of divine economy? Do you see 150 the excess of philanthropy? He who gives food to all flesh, being invited to a meal by his servant, without a doubt came to him, so that through the eating he might show the magnitude of his own condescension; and he took his place in the Pharisee's small room, as a man, he who fills every place with his divinity, so that he might show both his economy and his philanthropy. "And behold, a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was reclining in the house of the Pharisee, taking an alabaster jar of costly ointment, and standing behind him, began to wet his feet with her tears, and with the hairs of her head she wiped them, and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment"—saying nothing openly to him. For she was afraid, lest some foul word, coming out of her sinful lips, should move the philanthropic judge to anger against her. But in silence she wove her intercession, and making confession with her heart alone, she offered her supplication to the only master who knows what is in the heart, and to him, the philanthropist, she cried out with her mind: "I dared to approach you, master, through your mother and virgin, as you alone know as creator and God; for the sake of that unwed mother and virgin of yours, therefore, pity me, the harlot; grant me the forgiveness of my transgressions; for the sake of her virginity, pity my prostitution; have mercy, philanthropist, on her weeping, whom you rightly hated while she was laughing well; pity her who groans in her soul, whom you reasonably turned away from as she adorned her body for the ruin and deception of many; pity the braids, which you yourself created for the adornment of my head, but I arranged for the destruction of my soul; receive the ointment, as heavenly ointment, and wipe away the filth of my life; receive this ointment, and grant me a spiritual ointment, O fount of good things; wash me who am defiled, O physician

De meretrice

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἁγίου Ἰωάννου τοῦ Χρυσοστόμου ὁμιλία εἰς τὸν φαρισαῖον καὶ εἰς τὴν πόρνην.

Ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ καλὴ καὶ σωτήριος ἡ μετάνοια τοῖς χρωμένοις αὐτῇ, ἐν ταύταις δὲ μάλιστα ταῖς τῆς νηστείας ἡμέραις ἐπωφελὴς πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις καθίσταται, τοῖς προςτρέχουσιν ταῖς ἀγκάλαις αὐτῆς. Νῦν γὰρ ἡμῶν αἱ ψυχαὶ, τὴν πολυσαρκίαν, ὡς βαρὺ φορτίον, ἀποτιθέμεναι, ῥαδίως ἀνήπτανται πρὸς τὸν ποιητὴν καὶ δεσπότην θεόν· καὶ τῶν οἰκείων πλημμελημάτων κατηγοροῦσι θερμῶς, καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς αὐτῶν πταίσμασιν συγγνώμην αἰτοῦσιν παρὰ τοῦ φιλανθρώπου κριτοῦ. Εὔκαιρον οὖν ἐστιν, ἡμᾶς εἰς μέσον ἀγαγεῖν, μετανοίας διδάσκαλον, τὴν πόρνην ἐκείνην, τὴν περιπλακεῖσαν τοῖς ἀχράντοις ἴχνεσιν τοῦ δεσπότου Χριστοῦ, τὴν ἐξαλείψασαν τοῖς νάμασιν τῶν δακρύων τὸ γραμματεῖον τῆς φαυλοτάτης ζωῆς, ἣν ἐλεήσας ὁ κύριος ἀπέσμηξεν καὶ οἰκτειρήσας ἀπέλουσεν. Ἀναδράμωμεν οὖν ἐπὶ τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν ἱστορίαν, ἵνα καὶ τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν κατίδωμεν, καὶ τῆς γυναικὸς τὴν προςεδρίαν θαυμάσωμεν, καὶ μάθωμεν παρ' αὐτῆς, πῶς ὀφείλομεν καὶ ἡμεῖς, οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ, προςτρέχειν τῷ λυτρωτῇ θεῷ καὶ λαμβάνειν παρ' αὐτοῦ τὴν συγχώρησιν τῶν πεπλημμελημένων ἡμῖν. «Ἠρώτησέν τις τῶν φαρισαίων τὸν κύριον, ἵνα φάγῃ μετ' αὐτοῦ· καὶ εἰςελθὼν εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν τοῦ φαρισαίου ἀνεκλίθη.» Βλέπεις συγκατάβασιν θεοῦ; βλέπεις θείας οἰκονομίας μυστήριον; βλέπεις 150 φιλανθρωπίας ὑπερβωλήν; ὁ διδοὺς τροφὴν πάσῃ σαρκί, κληθεὶς εἰς ἄριστον ὑπὸ τοῦ οἰκέτου, ἀναμφιβόλως παρεγένετο πρὸς αὐτὸν, ἵνα διὰ τῆς ἐσθιάσεως ἐνδείξηται τῆς αὑτοῦ συγκαταβάσεως τὸ μέγεθος· καὶ τὸ τοῦ φαρισαίου δωμάτιον κατέλαβεν, ὡς ἄνθρωπος, ὁ πάντα τόπον πληρῶν τῇ θεότητι, ἵνα καὶ τὴν οἰκονομίαν καὶ τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν ἐνδείξηται. «Καὶ ἰδοὺ, γυνὴ ἐν τῇ πόλει, ἥτις ἦν ἁμαρτωλὸς, ἐπιγνοῦσα, ὅτι ἀνάκειται εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν τοῦ φαρισαίου, λαβοῦσα ἀλάβαστρον μύρου πολυτίμου, καὶ στᾶσα ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ, ἤρξατο τοῖς δάκρυσιν βρέχειν αὐτοῦ τοὺς πόδας, καὶ ταῖς θριξὶν τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτῆς ἐξέμασσεν, καὶ κατεφίλει τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ καὶ ἤλειφεν τῷ μύρῳ»-οὐδὲν λέγουσα φανερῶς πρὸς αὐτόν. Ἐδεδοίκει γὰρ, μήπως λόγος τις δυςώδης, ἐκ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν αὐτῆς χειλέων ἐξελθὼν, κινήσῃ κατ' αὐτῆς εἰς ὀργὴν τὸν φιλάνθρωπον κριτήν. Κατὰ δὲ τὸ σιωπώμενον τὴν πρεσβείαν ἐξύφαινεν, καὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ μόνῃ τὴν ἐξομολόγησιν ποιουμένη, τὴν ἱκεσίαν ἀνέφερεν τῷ μόνῳ τὰ ἐγκάρδια ἐπισταμένῳ δεσπότῃ, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν, τὸν φιλάνθρωπον, τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐβόα· «Ἐτόλμησα προςελθεῖν σοι, δέσποτα, διὰ τὴν σὴν μητέρα καὶ παρθένον, ὡς σὺ μόνος ἐπίστασαι ὡς δημιουργὸς καὶ θεός· δι' ἐκείνην τοίνυν τὴν σὴν ἀπειρόγαμον μητέρα καὶ παρθένον, οἴκτειρόν με, τὴν πόρνην· δώρησαί μοι τῶν ἐμῶν πλημμελημάτων τὴν συγχώρησιν· δι' αὐτὴν ἐκείνης παρθενίαν τὴν ἐμὴν πορνείαν οἰκτείρησον· ἐλέησον, φιλάνθρωπε, κλαίουσαν, ἣν εἰκότως ἐμίσεις γελῶσαν καλῶς· οἰκτείρησον στενάζουσαν κατὰ ψυχὴν, ἣν εὐλόγως ἀπεστρέφου καλλωπιζομένην τῷ σώματι πρὸς ὄλεθρον καὶ ἀπάτην πολλῶν· οἰκτείρησον πλοκάμους, οὓς αὐτὸς μὲν ἐδημιούργησας πρὸς κόσμον τῆς ἐμῆς κεφαλῆς, ἐγὼ δὲ πρὸς ἀπώλειαν κατεκόσμουν τῆς ἐμῆς ψυχῆς· δέξαι τὸ μύρον, ὡς μύρον οὐράνιον, καὶ ἀπόσμηξόν μου τοῦ βίου τὸν βόρβορον· δέξαι τὸ μύρον τοῦτο, καὶ πνευματικόν μοι μύρον χάρησαι, ἡ πηγὴ τῶν ἀγαθῶν· ἐμὲ τὴν ῥυπωθεῖσαν ἀπόπλυνον, ἰατρὲ